Multilayer radiation shields for nuclear and radiological centers using free-lead materials and nanoparticles

Abstract

We prepared two types of lead-free shielding materials consist of double and triple layered with different thicknesses and reported the radiation shielding performance of the developed concrete samples. The linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) of microcomposites was calculated theoretically by XCOM-software and compared with experimental results and less than 4 % difference was observed at all discussed energies. We measured the half and tenth value layers (HVL and TVL) of the single, double and triple layered samples and evaluated the radiation shielding efficiency (RSE) at different energies. The experimental data showed that the inclusion of nanoparticles into the composites reduced the TVL. The triple layered sample, composed of a 3 cm IM-2 layer, a 15 cm CON-2 layer, and a 2 cm IM-2 layer, exhibited exceptional radiation shielding performance, with an RSE of 97.5 % at 0.662 MeV, and an RSE of approximately 92 % for energies greater than 1 MeV. Comparing our samples to pure lead, we found that our double and triple layered samples could replace lead in practical applications, with the triple layer exhibiting superior performance at energies greater than 0.662 MeV. The RSE of our triple layered sample was 100 % for energies less than 0.06 MeV and 97.5 % at 0.662 MeV, and the RSE of our double layered sample with a thickness of 18 cm was 93.5 % and 92.3 % for energies of 1.173 and 1.33 MeV, respectively.